5 Card Draw (2) - Predraw and Draw

Introduction

In this article

• How you select your starting hands
  
• The starting hands chart
  
• How you play the draw
  

We are now familiar with the rules and we also know something about the nature of the game. In this chapter we will look at some strategical aspects of the game. As there are only two betting rounds in the game there is less implicit value to bluff (for the limit format in particular) or to get tricky with hands. However, on a more advanced level, we could mix up the game more in order to not get exploited and to get paid off more often.

Introductory advice and starting hands predraw

Especially on medium to higher limits it is necessary to work on our player image. On lower limits the game is to a greater extent straight forward and you should ”play your cards” more and try to make as few mistakes as possible. However, to beat the low limits, it is necessary to know what plays are valuable when entering pots and moreover when you should make an extra bet or raise after the draw.

The first thing as far as strategy we will take a closer look at is the hand selection in 5 Card Draw. When you choose your starting hand to enter a pot in you should carefully observe and think about the following:

• The five cards you hold in your hand
• The position you have on the table
• The betting before it comes to you
• The level of aggression, looseness or passiveness on the table
• How you think your own image is perceived on the table
• Past actions from the players on your table– including betting and drawing/carding. You have to observe this or use the hand history option

Keep these six things in mind when it comes to choosing cards predraw. We will encounter them again in this chapter and later on this article.

The hands to play predraw (6- or 5-handed ring game)

I would like to describe a spectrum of common and playable hands that you will be dealt once you get started playing. I will start with the more marginal hands and end with the ”stellar hands” (i.e. more or less unbeatable hands) and give you the proper action for each group of hands, given your position on the table. Finally,I will summarise everything in a table of ”opening ranges”. You may use it as a support while you are gaining experience.

A cardinal rule I will point out repeatedly is: when you enter a pot, do it with a bet or a raise. One important reason for this (which I mentioned earlier), is if you potentially have the best hand available on the table (pre draw) you are almost always a 75% percent or better favourite versus one single caller and the implied odds are not usually not so good (in the context of FL 5CD). As there is only one additional betting round after the draw, your opponents will often not pay you off, as you might have shown good strength predraw.

You would also prefer to be aggressive predraw, as you would like to isolate the field from someone drawing to a flush/straight or any kind of trips. You should simply make all people with marginal holdings pay and ideally you will get paid one extra time if you also improve your hand.

A hand like A-K-X-X-X or three high cards to a straight or flush should not generally be played.

There are advanced concepts when you are Heads Up (HU) that say you can raise A-K-X-X-X high since it might in fact be the best hand many times.

About 42% of the times you can expect to be dealt a pair predraw. In early position in a 6-handed Game, you naturally come in with a bet from UTG with a pair of aces (AA) or better. Trickier and more marginal is a pair of Kings (KK). In 6-handed format, KK without the Ace is a slight underdog in the field whereas K-K-A-X-X goes above 50% (favourite versus the field) and should therefore be bet. I would recommend you fold KK unless you do not have the Ace as a side card. All other pairs below should fold.

In 5-handed format you come in with a bet from UTG with KK or better. The borderline hand in this format given UTG-position is QQ. If you don't have QQ-A-K-X I recommend that you fold QQ since you will be 47% to have the best hand against the field.

The drawing hands are speculative but yet highly potential hands if you complete them. The more playable drawing hands are the four flush (e.g. Ac, 10c, 9c, 6c, X), the open-ended straight draw (7-8-9-10-X), a gut shot straight flush draw or the open-ended straight flush draw. You should fold a weaker draw, like a gutshot straight draw, unless you don't extremly good odds to call it (over 11 times your calling money), but you rarely do.

You will be dealt a four flush about 4.5 percent of the time and an open ended straight draw about 3 percent of the time. If you intend to play a drawing hand make sure you do it for the right odds (pot odds). The drawing hands could also, in some cases when the timing and/or table image is right, be played aggressively as semi-bluffs with the intention of continuation betting if missed. You will as you progress make such plays in order to balance your 2 pair or concealed trip range. This is subject for more advanced concepts in upcoming articles.

The following should be known about drawing hands:

Only play open-ended straight draws or four flush draws. A four flush is 4.22:1 (9 outs) to be a made hand, while an open-ended straight draw is 4.88:1 (8 outs) to be made.

Disregard all other draws, as you will very rarely get the odds to play them (a gutshot straight draw is 11:1 to be made and you rarely get those odds in pots. In some cases, you can use a hand like A-K-Q-10-X to semi-bluff, but only from late positions when folded to you (SB usually).

A correct or proper play when it comes to drawing hands is to call a four flush draw or open-ended straight draw for the right odds. Do not ever open call a four flush or open-ended straight draw UTG or in early position.

FIt is wrong since a) you don't know how many players that will enter the pot and you will many times get the wrong price/odds and b) you are acting very ”weak” - many good players will exploit that and take charge by raising.

Also, if there’s a fold to the SB and BB and if they develop their holdings a bluff attempt, this is usually a bad idea (especially if they have seen this pattern before) – as it’s just too obvious. Instead, play your draws for the right odds. This means that you need to get at least 4:1 or 5:1 in pot odds to call your 4-card draw.

There could be pots with a lot of action where an overcall slightly under the pot odds could be the right decision. If you make the draw in a such case, you will probably also get paid off in the postdraw round. In short, consider occassional implicit odds when you consider calling a good drawing hand and the pot odds are marginal or below the right amount.

This concept could be tricky in the beginning if you do not have the experience to assess such situations (i.e. whether the players around you are willing to call more often in the post draw rounds). If you are new to the game, I would recommend the conservative route to just fold your hand. The typical spot you will get the correct odds to call a drawing hand is usually in sb, bb and sometimes on the button (if the 3 first players in a 6-handed game called).

There are occasions when you might go ahead and raise a drawing hand as a semi-bluff. If you do, you should think about the following:

• a) If you miss you should always follow up with a continuation bet. What was the point of raising in the first place if you just check down a losing hand? This will create a very weak image. However, do not attempt to bluff after the draw in multi-way pots – a typical spot to do it is heads-up and sometimes 3-handed. If you do get caught, you will have a potential chance to get paid off by your opponents in future pots. On lower to medium limits many players have the tendency to ”overadapt” when they spot someone bluffing (and vice versa when they see strong showdowns they tend to fold more).
• b) Be aware of your own table image at the point of raising the drawing hand.
• c) Be aware of the calling/folding propensity of other players at your table. Are they willing to call you off if you hit and/or are they willing to fold if you miss?

If you do pick up a hand like 9-10-J-Q suited - an open-ended straight flush draw - it should be played with aggression. It’s a58% favourite against one player with a pair heads-up and against the field, it will have very strong potential. There is up to a 31% chance to complete it (9+6=15 outs) and you will easily consider overcalling with this hand if there was a raise and re-raise to you. If you face 1 raise predraw with this hand, there is nothing wrong with making it 3-bets to go. If you do miss, you carry on with a bet postdraw as explained in (3).

A gutshot straight flush draw has about 25 percent chance of completing it (9+3=12 outs). In the same way, it should be raised first in, but as it is slightly more difficult, to hit, you you should proceed with more caution when you play it and look for good odds to play it (you will need 2.92:1).

If you are dealt small, medium or top two pair you naturally come in with a raise. You will also re-raise if there are two bets to you from most positions, as two pair should be the best hand most of the time. Two pair is are a strong hand in general, but also potentially vulnerable. If too many people call and join the pot, you will have to proceed with caution in the postdraw round. You can be beat by higher two pair, trips or a completed flush or a straight.

You will be dealt two pair about 5% of the times. Remember that with a two pair, you are always drawing to 4 outs (to complete to a full house) and therefore you should play it fast and aggressive, as you would like fewer opponents in the pot. Do not be ”overly aggressive” with two pair - especially not post draw. Sometimes you will be beat predraw with a higher formation (trips or a higher two pair).

The only two pair I would consider capping is Aces up. If you do so, you will have to pay very close attention to what happens during the draw and how your opponent proceeds if he is first to act after the draw. If the role is opposite and you are first to act post draw, it is sometimes right to check and sometimes it is right to value bet (belongs to more advanced concepts) – it depends on your read on your opponent from his past actions.

Trips are close to ”stellar hands” and they are a big favourite against any player HU and also against the field. For anyone holding a pair to complete to trips it is 7.75:1 or about an 11% chance.

You will be dealt trips about 2% of the time and, once again, you play trips straight forward and with aggression, as you want higher pairs and two pairs to pay and you would like to isolate the drawing hands. If you face a raise, make a 3-bet automatically and most of the time if you are faced with a raise and a re-raise, you should cap the pot – your hand is most likely to be the best here.

Hands like made straights, flushes, full-houses and quads are naturally stellar hands since you have to consider them as more or less unbeatable. The ideal play is once again to play them with full aggression predraw, as many times, you will not get paid implicitly in the next betting round. Sometimes you can get a call from a ”non-believer” who is unwilling to fold his trips post draw but the normal case is a player with another pat hand (hopefully worse).

Sometimes you could consider calling from early position first in, thereby slow playing them. But in such cases you should have a lot of ”jackals” or more unobservant aggressive players around that will raise a great variety hands. If you manage such a play it will be like Christmas for you since you will 3 or 4-bet your monster once the action gets you to predraw. This situation was more common in the earlier days but on lower limits today you can still do it. Remember if you decide to limp there could be other drawing hands involved (higher) so you will have to be prepared to spot that.

When faced with a raise predraw – do not call hands you think are better – re-raise!

Remember that if you have a strong hand or a hand you consider the best according to the hand distribution of the table field then do not call it if faced with a raise; go ahead and make it a 3-bets. Even if you think the situation is marginal use as a thumb rule that if your hand is just as good to call then it should be just as good to raise!

Most of the times you are after all more than a 75% favorite in HU-situations pre draw and and the implicit odds are normally low after the draw. So for example, if you are faced with a raise predraw, you pick up KK-AA in Cut Off and you think your hand is stronger than the initial raisor’s range of opening hands – then go ahead and re-raise if you intend to play the pot.

You would also like to isolate from other pairs and/or drawing hands that could join. Price them out and make the initial raiser pay if he is going to play. Do the same thing with two pairs and naturally with trips or ”pat hands”. Strive to always be the aggressor and remain ”in charge” of the table -  punish the weaker callers.

Loosen up the ranges as you progress - be active in the blinds!

Some of the recommended opening ranges below could be seen as fairly ”tight” and you will naturally be able to widen the ranges as you develop more as a player. For instance if first in, you can raise 77 from the button if you have some high cards to go along (e.g. 77AKX). It is in such cases less likely that anyone in front of you has a pair of Kings or Aces.

You should also always strive to be very active when you are alone in the blinds. I try to attack a lot of the times from SB with even AK-high. Against tight/conservative players it is definitely a good EV+ play. In the same way I try to reraise the constant aggressor from SB when I am in BB (HU).

In extreme cases I do it even with 99-TT but most of the times with KK-AA. In the latter case I should be ahead most of the times and especially since I have position in the 2^nd round of betting it is a strong EV+ play.

Beware of that we are discussing FL 5CD in this text. For PL and NL structures there are many spots where flat calling a two pair (to one raiser) is correct for pot control. In these games position plays a higher roll and many times implied odds are important to think about. There is are more fold equity aspects involved which is not the case in FL 5CD many times.

When you face a raise and you think your hand is marginal in PL or NL you may flat call but remember that you have to balance it often and raise for instance 2/3 of the times to not look too passive and transparent (or you will turn out a ”punching bag”). More on PL and NL and advanced concepts more in depth in upcoming articles.

The table below will show hand ranges pre draw that I think is highly recommendable if you intend to start playing 5CD and become a winner. I can not stress more that you always should come in for a raise with the given hands.

Drawing and Carding

The action of drawing or ”carding” is very important since it is part of the information you should study along with the betting patterns. This is also the infomation you send out to your opponents when you are in a pot. A general concept that applies to 5CD is: you should try to send out as little information as possible about the strength of your hand.

We can not always do that since if we are dealt a pair we draw three cards almost every time. However in the case of trips we could opt to draw one card. Thereby we are not representing the ”obvious” all the time. We are also balancing our ranges of trips, two pairs and eventual semi-bluffing hands. More on this later.

In the case where you have a hand like a pair (e.g. KKXXX) and you get called you always draw 3 cards to improve your hand. However there are many players out there who complicate the process when holding pairs in order to look deceitful or perhaps looking to slow down the action post draw. Let us go through some situations concering the draw and carding given specific hands we are dealt pre draw.

You are dealt a pair like KKAXX and you go ahead and make a bet from Cut Off. You get called in BB from a player who draws two cards and now it is up to you to change cards. The advice here, regardless whether your opponent would have drawn 1 or 3 cards is: you always draw 3 to your dealt pair.

Keeping the kicker is typically not a very good idea and there are some reasons for this. To, start with, the person who defended in BB may not seem to have a very good hand. If he had trips, he would normally have tried to raise you predraw. We can expect that he has a medium or low pair along with a kicker most of the time here. The kicker is probably be an ace (or even a king) and therefore you should fold your kicker and discard 3 to improve your kings. Secondly, keeping a kicker does not improve your chances of making two pair. What is more important is that if you discard 3 you will increase your chance of getting trips. So, in this case, if you manage to improve to KKK, you will go ahead and value bet (or re-raise) post draw and hopefully get paid off.

If you are dealt two pair the action is pretty simple – you draw 1 card in the hope of completing your hand to a full house. Some people stand pat with two pair hands (a rare case but it does happen). They do this for many reasons. Sometimes they think that two pair is a ”stellar hand” so they go ahead and raise or re-raise and then they stand pat to finally make a value bet thinking that the other player (or players) will call lightly or loosely.

Other players that carry out this action just want to be aggressive predraw and then check down their hands postdraw for pot control and/or show down value. I think that these ideas are very bad and they do not holdwell. Just draw 1 card to your two pair and after studying what the other player (or players) drew , try to make the best possible decision during the next betting round.

When you get dealt trips it is not as easy to tell what the optimal drawing/carding strategy would be. The factors behind your decision are a few more since you have to take into account that you have a very strong hand that also should be bet for value in the post draw round most of the times; and you certainly would like to get paid. If you choose to discard two cards to your trips you will have a higher chance to improve to quads (which is not easy) and if you opt to keep a kicker you will only slightly improve your chances of making a full house.

When you have more experience in 5CD you will clearly see the affect when you your carding between 1 or 2 when you are dealt trips. I will tell from my own experience that I in general fold 1 card to my trips. Depending on my position, number of players in the pot and the players propensity to sometimes overrepresent or bluff I could discard 2. When I am out of position and when it has been capped in a multiway pot I could discard 2 cards – especially if I have smaller trips than 888. In this case my hand looks obvious but in these spots there are usually many potential hands such as higher pairs or draws.

Other times I discard 2 is many times first in on the button or if it is limped to me and I am in position. This play works very well against notorious BB-defenders – who many times believe I am stealing – and also players who limp JJ-AA early and hopefully improve to two pair. Both categories could be willing to pay me off when I bet post draw since they many times think I started off with a pair and kicker.

Most of the times I discard 1 and I do it to balance my ranges of trips, two pairs and semi-bluffs/bluffs. This way of playing is what I recommend you should do. It keeps our opposition guessing and also it makes our opponents checking to us in the post draw round (given we have position). Then we can easily put in a value bet if we have trips and usually we don't get checkraised in these spots.   

Beware that these experiences are based on my image created during my sessions. You will just have try what works out for you best given your previous actions and the dynamics of the table all in all. I will generally say that you should fold 1 card most of the times when you are dealt trips pre draw. 

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Related Articles: 5 Card Draw (1) - Introduction 5 Card Draw (3) - Postdraw 5 Card Draw (4) - Opponents Related Quiz: 5 Card Draw Quiz (1) 5 Card Draw Quiz (2) 5 Card Draw Quiz (3)